Tuesday, September 25, 2012

Heard a concerning sound while eating my cinnamon raisin toast for breakfast this morning. Birds here sound like car alarms and laughing monkeys, but it didn't quite seem like a bird. Was it Lucy, the dog? Was something wrong with her? Whatever could it be??

Actually, it was my Seychellois grandpa ("Papa") singing in the shower.

Sexy Nerd also pointed out to me that Papa's ears wiggle when he talks. Bizarre!

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

We broke up our flight to Australia with a few nights in Hawaii, which eased us into our new time zone so gently that neither of us suffered any jet lag. This was much to the surprise of my family members in Australia, who had expected us to be zombies. Traveling home from Australia, however, we went straight from Sydney to Albuquerque. You know, with several hours to kill stuck inside the Nadi, Fiji airport and LAX.

34+ hours without sleep.

Home at midnight. Back to work immediately.

Add in the fun bonus of a cold I seem to have caught while flying and you have one grouchy, headachey, TIRED space cadet.

Plus, don't forget my idiopathic insomnia. That's right. In addition to not being able to sleep on any of our flights, including the 10 hour overnighter, I have barely been able to sleep since we returned home.

Over a week ago!

Which brings me (finally) to the point of this post. The other night I didn't nod off until almost 4am. I had to get up at 7am for work, so after tossing and turning for hours, I was fortunate to get to sleep at all. Then, shortly before 5am, I awoke to a strange sound.

Sexy Nerd was away on a business trip. He couldn't have made the noise. Was it our house alarm? Was someone breaking in while I was home alone? I shot up in bed.

I waited, listening, but everything was quiet.It wasn't the security alarm. Had I just dreamed that there was a sound? I closed my eyes and tried to fall asleep.

BEEP!

Eyes open again. Was the sound coming from upstairs with me?

BEEP!

The smoke detector! Yes, that always beeps when the battery is running low. I figured I'd hop out of bed, disconnect the stupid thing, and try to get back to sleep. I staggered over to our bedroom smoke detector and looked at the ceiling.

BEEP!

The smoke detector was fine. The sound was coming from outside the room. Exhausted and cursing, I threw open the door and glared into the dark loft. Nothing out there should be beeping.

BEEP!

I looked up at the carbon monoxide detector on the ceiling, which had a red flashing light. The source of the beeps! I buried my fists into my eyes and stomped my feet in an exasperated tantrum, then turned on the light and dragged a chair over from the guest bedroom. Standing on it, I could read whatever was written next to the flashing light and make the horrible beeping cease. Next, I could go back to bed. Not that much time had passed, really. There was still some hope that I would be able to fall back to sleep and get my remaining 2 hours before work.

Next to the flashing red light: If flashing, seek fresh air immediately.

To which I, of course, yelled to the empty house: ARE YOU F@C&ING KIDDING ME?!

There was no carbon monoxide. That would be ridiculous. Still, just to be on the safe side, I opened the nearest window and took a deep breath, then called Sexy Nerd's cell phone. If I can't sleep, no one is going to sleep! He assured me that the beeping was just a low battery warning and that I should go back to bed. I did.

Then, I got back up and set to work opening every window in our house, just in case. Despite it raining outside.

Back to bed, followed by one more trip to close most of the windows, fearing water damage and scary people who break into homes through open windows. Only when you're home alone, of course.

Later that morning, I went to work on less than 1 hour of sleep. You had the 3 entire weeks while we were away to act up, carbon monoxide detector! You couldn't have at least had your spazz-out moment prior to 4am?!

Thursday, September 13, 2012

$50 tickets! I wasn't sure how the "limited view" seats on the sides of the Sydney Opera House would do, but they were fine. My advice for next time would be to choose the corner seats, even if it means not sitting side by side with your group, and to go for further back on the lower row.

The photo below was taken from my seat at the Sydney Opera House before the show...right before
the usher scolded me for breaking the no photos rule (and right before Sexy Nerd said "I told you so").

See the orchestra? The stage pulls back at the start of the show and after intermission and you can see everyone.

Worth it.

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Over 34 hours traveling without sleep = super duper jet lag ridiculousness. I went to bed around 6pm, straight after work (HA! What kind of maniac agrees to come in to work just a few hours after returning from Australia? I'm nuts). I woke up at 9:30am. Still sooooo sleepy.

Just wanted to share a quick photo before heading back to work. Way happy that I don't have to go in at my usual time today.

While visiting my family in Western Australia, Sexy Nerd insisted I take this photo of him at the Peel Zoo, standing by the "Red-Necked" Wallaby sign.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Ever since we purchased our 13.1 acre (gotta get credit for that extra 0.1 acre!) lot in Paako last year, Sexy Nerd and I have devoted most of our free time to planning our dream home.

We cannot make a decision about anything. At this point, it seems our best option would be to build a row of townhomes, each in a completely different style. On Monday, we would live in our colorful Victorian home, and later in the week we could switch things up in our ultra-contemporary, all concrete house.

Since I can't imagine the Paako HOA (or our budget) ever allowing such a thing, we really do need to narrow down our list of ideas.

Flooring is a tough choice. In our current home, we have premium laminate flooring. It stands up well against our rambunctious dogs, but is easily damaged if you unknowingly drip water onto it
and let it sit, like by the dog's water bowl and the dishwasher.
We also have real wood flooring on our stairs and our bedroom sitting
area, but it scratches easily. Simply put, real wood and laminate are
both off our list.

Which leads me to...

Ceramic tiles that look like wood!

I'm seriously considering this for our dream home. It seems like it would be easy to maintain - no scratches or water damage. Our other top ideas right now are travertine tiles, which we currently have in our master bathroom, and stained concrete. We've come across these "wood" tiles on home tours before and have liked how they look in person.

But still...tiles that look like wood? Are these really dream home material??

Does anyone out there think this flooring will seem dated in a few years? Once it's in, I'm too cheap to change it!

*2014 Update*
We've seen wood tile dozens of times now and I still love it. There are options that are textured and that come in wide "planks" (is it still a wood plank when it's not really wood?) I've visited homes with this that I swore were real wood, even after touching the floor to make sure. You can even use wood tile in other applications, like on a fireplace or to create a statement wall.